Save Article

In India, Subway Rolls Out ‘Jain Sandwiches’

The Paneer Tikka sandwich is a vegetarian offering from Subway specific to India. The Jain options are onion-free.

Western fast-food chains have long adapted their Indian menus to cater to local tastes, with plenty of spice and vegetarian options.

Subway has recently taken this trend to the next level, introducing sandwiches that target the country’s Jains, a religious community known for being extremely conservative when it comes to food.

Jainism preaches a high reverence for life to the point that many don’t even eat vegetables that grow underground for fear insects and worms may be killed in the process of uprooting them. For them, meat, fish, eggs and even root vegetables are not allowed. Onion and garlic are among the vegetables that are a strict no-no for Jains. In India, there are around five million Jains, or 0.4% of the country’s 1.2 billion people, according to government estimates. Many of them live in Gujarat state.

To cater to this demographic, Subway’s already all-vegetarian outlet in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, recently opened a counter that offers sandwiches that strictly adhere to these rules.

Customers won’t find sweet onion sauce or honey mustard as condiment options on that counter: Honey, too, is taboo for some Jains.

“The response from our Jain customers has been very good. They now don’t need to cross-check with our staff on whether the sauces contain garlic or vinegar,” said Durlabh Singh, who oversees Subway’s development in areas including Gujarat.

Mr. Singh said the Ahmedabad all-vegetarian outlet first opened in December, and that the Jain counter was introduced a few weeks after that. More may follow, as the company is currently considering rolling out more veg-only outlets in cities across Gujarat including Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Jamnagar. These, too, may include a designated Jain counter.

Subway has plans to open 30 restaurants across Gujarat in the next six months to add to the 27 stores at present, he added. Subway’s first all-vegetarian outlet in India opened in a university campus in Punjab state last year.

To cater to local dietary habits, Subway outlets in India don’t serve beef, which Hindus don’t eat, and have plenty of spicy options on offer, including Chicken Achari, chicken spiced with pickle ingredients.

Vegetarian sandwich options include the Veg. Shammi, a lentil-based kebab, and the Paneer Tikka, cottage cheese marinated with tikka seasoning. Subway says it plans to introduce more vegetarian options soon.

Subway, a company owned by U.S.-based Doctor’s Associates Inc., operates in India through franchisees. The first Subway outlet opened in New Delhi in 2001, and there are now 335 restaurants across India.

McDonald’s has no imminent plans to open all-vegetarian restaurants in Ahmedabad, a company spokeswoman told India Real Time.

Another of Subway’s rivals Yum Brands KFC, has separate vegetarian and non-vegetarian service counters and cooking areas. Tarun Lal, general manager for KFC, India & Area Countries, said the company does not plan to introduce vegetarian-only restaurants in India.